Trial
by FieryArtemis
Summary: Sometimes being chief really sucks. This really hits Hiccup hard during his first major trial as chief of Berk. Some potential spoilers for HtTYD2 so read at your own risk. Now a two-shot
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **So I saw How To Train Your Dragon 2 a few days ago and I thought it was pretty awesome. I wanted to write a piece exploring Hiccup as a chief so I did. Please enjoy this, most likely, anachronism soupy short story.

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Sometimes being chief really sucked.

Sure there were lots of times when Hiccup kind of like it. For instance, it was his job as chief to inspect the young dragon trainees' progress. That was his favorite job as chief. Anything involving teaching the children about dragons. Sometimes he even made up reasons to go to the academy just so he could fly with the students. Astrid often rolled her eyes when he showed up unannounced with lessons in his hands but she never said anything.

Then there was the task of overseeing the rebuilding of Berk. As devastating as the Bewilderbeast's attack had been, it had left a lot of room for Hiccup to incorporate ideas and inventions he'd had in the back of his mind for ages but had never had a chance to put into place. He and the villagers had rigged up water canals above the village to transport water to put out stray fires and refill watering holes. They'd built better store houses for excess grain and meat to help get the village through the winter, perfecting the way they sealed the cracks in the wood so that the numerous storms didn't let any water in. Hiccup hadn't thought it possible, especially after his warm welcoming after defeating the Green Death, but the villagers had come to respect him even more. His desire to rebuild and strengthen the village at a rapid speed had won him a lot of favor. Sometimes his responsibilities felt less like a chore and more like an honor.

Sometimes not so much. This was one of those times.

Hiccup sat in his father's seat, his seat now, and felt incredibly small in the giant carved, high backed, wooden chair of the chief at the head of the mead hall. This particular seat had been the seat of the chief for generations. It had belonged to his father's father, and his father before that, and his father before that. Now, at this very moment, Hiccup felt that weight settle squarely on his shoulders. Gobber stood beside him, thumping him on the shoulder encouragingly. "This wasn't easy for your father either. Just remember...be fair, be firm, and above all remember you're chief."

"Right, because how could I forget." grumbled Hiccup under his breath. Gobber gave him another sturdy pat on his shoulder before withdrawing his hand and folding it behind his back. Hiccup curled his hand against the grain of the wooden armrest. His stomach flipped over in his gut.

A low rumble at his feet and a nudge to his good foot drew his attention. Toothless looked up at him from underneath his eyelids. His pupils were fairly constricted to show a large portion of his yellow-green irises. Underneath his nostrils, an electric blue flared. Toothless rumbled again. _You aren't alone. I'm here too,_ he seemed to say. _You are chief and I am Alpha dragon. There is nothing we can't do together._

Hiccup reached down and scratched Toothless behind his ears. "Thanks bud." he whispered before sitting up straight again.

Stretching himself tall in his seat, Hiccup splayed his hands on the armrests and tilted his chin level. He hoped that he at least looked the part of a chief because the gods only knew just how much he didn't feel like one. Hiccup swallowed the lump in his throat. He looked over the men and women briefly before turning his glance towards the heavy doors of the mead hall. No children he noted momentarily. This affair was too grave for kids to be involved, even the older ones. "Bring in the accused." Hiccup said. His voice rang across the unusually silent mead hall, clear and strong. The voice of a chief.

Two men at the doors pushed them open. As they parted two men flanking a third in heavy chains entered the mead hall. Hiccup took a deep breath through his nose to resettle his nerves as he watched the men approach. His eyes never wavered from the man in chains. The men stopped in front of the stone steps that led up to Hiccup's seat. The rest of the assembly closed in around the prisoner. Hiccup recognized the man. He had been one of his father's warriors. Not a very high ranking one but respected enough for his prowess with a warhammer. Gobber had put him on the detail that was responsible for rebuilding the dragon stabes. Hiccup tried very hard to forget about the fact that this man could easily snap him in half. It wasn't an appropriate thought for a chief to have.

"Your name?" Hiccup asked the prisoner solemnly.

"Borg, son of Niels." answered the man. There wasn't a trace of fear in his voice. He was a viking afterall.

"Borg, son of Niels, you stand accused of treason and selling information to the enemies of Berk. What have you to say of this accusation?" he inquired.

"Tis a lie!" hissed Borg, "I've done no such thing."

"Where is the accuser? Bring him forth." Hiccup waited as the crowd shifted and parted to let another man through. The man came to stand in front of Hiccup as well. He gave a deep nod of respect for his new chief. Hiccup acknowledged the man's gesture with a nod of his own. "You accused Borg of selling our rebuilding plans to the Berserker tribe so that they may find a weakness in our defenses and exploit it. Is this correct?"

"Yes Chief." the man replied.

"Yer a filthy liar and ye know it Eric ye dog!" roared Borg. The assembled crowd flew into outrage. Noise pounded at the ceiling, making any words indistinguishable.

Hiccup ground his teeth together. His father would've banged his hand upon the chair for silence. That would probably break Hiccup's hand if he tried it. Hiccup cleared his throat. "ENOUGH!" he yelled as loud as he possibly could. Toothless echoed him with a deafening roar. The mead hall fell silent again. All eyes fell to him again. "Thank you," he said as he shifted in his seat.

He turned his attention back to Borg and his accuser. "This is a heavy charge to level on your fellow clansmen. What proof do you have of your claim?"

"I heard him speaking with a Berserker emissary about the dragon stables that were being built. I heard him agree to a price to sell the plans to the Berserkers. Ten silver coins."

"You heard Borg agree to this price?" Hiccup repeated the words just for clarity sake. He didn't want his first major trial to come under any scrutiny because he had failed to ensure that nothing could be misconstrued.

"That is correct." the man nodded.

"It's a lie." yelled Borg.

"It ain't!" cried a woman from the crowd. "I saw Borg talkin' to that Berserker too!"

Very suddenly the hall was in an uproar again. Many agreeing that they, too, had seen this fateful meeting. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before looking up. This time all he had to do was raise his hand and the hall fell quiet once more. "I can't condemn a man on words alone." Hiccup told the assembly. He looked to the accuser. "Is there any other evidence you can provide?"

One of the guards came forth this time. "We found the stable plans in his house."

In his hands held up a roll of yellowed parchment. Hiccup nodded to Gobber and he went down to grab the parchment. Gobber returned to Hiccup's side and handed him the roll. Hiccup wasn't surprised to see that it was, indeed, the plans that had been drawn up for the stable rebuild.

Hiccup looked up from the plans at Borg, "Your defense for this?"

"I am on the stable detail. I brought the plans home to study them." Borg supplied quickly.

"Despite the fact that the plans are not to be removed from the foreman's workstation?" Hiccup countered. He made a very conscious effort not to let his eyebrow creep up on his face. It would've implied disbelief. He _had_ to remain impartial and fair. No matter how much he thought Borg was lying through his rotted teeth.

"Yes," Borg answered simply. Hiccup looked back at the plans. There were a handful of charcoal marks next to some of the exterior beams. It didn't take him more than a couple of seconds to realize that they were structural supports for the middle of the stable. One hard enough shot from a catapult or fireball could break either one of them would bring the new stable crashing to the ground on top of any dragons and riders that happened to be in there. He'd drawn them up. He knew every inch of these plans. He knew where every little detail of them. And he knew he hadn't put those charcoal marks there. Hiccup tensed his hands around the plans without realizing it.

Again Hiccup looked up from the plans. "What other evidence is there against Borg's innocence?"

"These Chief." the second guard came forth, holding a stained leather coin purse in his hand. This time, Hiccup rose from his seat himself. This he had to see for himself. He folded the plans under his arm and took the bag from the guard. Hiccup dumped the contents out into his hand. Ten silver coins, all from different tribes and places rolled out into his hand. Hiccup's eyes narrowed as he looked up at Borg.

"Where did these come from?" Hiccup asked evenly. From behind him Toothless growled in warning. "I wouldn't recommend lying." Hiccup's tone matched Toothless's demeanor.

"They are from the last raid." Borg answered. His voice faltered. Hiccup took advantage of it.

"We haven't been on a raid in nearly six months. The number of silver coins that were seized were less than a hundred. How did you come to own so many of them, especially after they were distributed to the rest of the village?"

"Not all of them are from the last raid. I've collected them over time." Borg was no longer confident. Toothless hissed.

"Shouldn't you have at least two coins that are from the same place, especially since the raid before last had a taking of more than five hundred silver coins that were distributed amongst the village." Hiccup glared at Borg. He took a step back and turned his hand over. The coins hit the ground at Borg's feet with a thunderous clang. Hiccup uncurled the plans again. "Where is the foreman for the stable rebuild?" he called.

A woman came forward this time, pushing her way through the throng of people crowding around. "Here, Chief." she said giving him a respectful nod.

"What notations did you make to the plans?" he asked her.

"I made one or two on the door overhang where the pulleys and opening mechanisms were supposed to go. You were there when I made them Chief." the forewoman admitted to him.

Hiccup nodded gravely. He held the plans out to the forewoman. "Do you deny any knowledge of these particular notations. The ones on the support beams?"

The forewoman took the plans and scrutinized them for a moment. She shook her head. "I didn't make them. I hadn't noticed them before now."

"Thank you." Hiccup took the plans from her once more. Suddenly his nerves flared. He had only one or two more questions for the trial but he already knew the verdict. Hiccup had hoped desperately that this trial would've gone differently. Gods! He had wanted this to go so differently! Again he had to consciously suppress the urge to shake his head in frustration. He grit his teeth and took a breath before saying, "One more question madam forewoman…why didn't you bring it to my attention that the plans were missing?"

The forewoman shook her head, "Because they were not missing. At least not to my knowledge. They were at my workstation every morning when I came to work. "

"Did you lock them up when you left for the day?" Hiccup inquired.

"I didn't see the need to. The only reason why I discovered them missing when I did was because you ordered Borg's arrest and searched his house." she replied.

"So anyone could've come in and taken them after you'd gone for the day?"

"Yes," the forewoman told him. Her voice quieted with shame. Hiccup's mind sagged underneath another weight. He'd have to see that some sort of punishment was dealt to the forewoman for her carelessness too. _Great, _he thought ruefully to himself, _another court meeting I can dread_. At least the punishment would be less severe.

"Thank you for your honest testimony. You are dismissed for the time being." Hiccup told the forewoman with a curt nod. He turned back to Borg. "You admitted that you took the plans. These notations aren't mine or the forewoman's. Are they your's?"

"No!" Borg said vehemently.

"Then whose are they?" Hiccup's voice wasn't demanding or accusatory. It was deadly even. Borg shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. Hiccup's eyes narrowed. Borg wouldn't even answer the question. Wouldn't even give a reason! Toothless rumbled. He had slunk to edge of the stairs but hadn't come down to stand next to Hiccup. "Then whose are they?" he repeated icily.

The tone took Borg off guard. Hiccup stood straight in front of him, arms crossed over his chest and peering up at the taller viking. Borg seemed to shrink. "I don't know." he said weakly at length.

"You don't know." responded Hiccup quietly. No one jeered in the crowd. No one seemed to be breathing. Hiccup surprised even himself with how calmly he spoke to Borg. "What defense do you have then against the charges? You were seen by several people talking to the Berserker emissary. One heard you agree to ten silver coins for information on our rebuilds. Ten silver coins were found in your home, not a one from the same place. The plans for the dragon stables were also found in your home with two crippling weak points highlighted in plain sight. And your defense for all of this that others are lying and you don't know who made the marks. When did you plan to make the final trade off? How much more were you promised to sell your tribe out?"

_Say something. Anything! Some sort of defense!_ Hiccup screamed in his mind. Borg remained silent. Hiccup grit his teeth as he stepped away from Borg once more. He ran his eyes over the assembly. "Does anyone have anything to say to defend Borg, son of Niels? Some to account for his whereabouts during the days when the plans were left unattended or when he was supposedly meeting the Berserker emissary?"

Silence. Deafening silence. A few people shifted uncomfortably but not one single person opened their mouth to speak in defense of Borg. Hiccup's heart dropped into his stomach. "Alright then." he muttered to himself as he mounted the stairs and return to the chief's seat. He didn't sit down right away. For some reason it didn't seem like he ought to be sitting for this part.

Hiccup squared his shoulders. "Where are the twelve members of the jury?" he called across the mead hall.

Twelve vikings separated themselves from the main assembly to stand behind Borg. Hiccup looked each one in the face for a few seconds. "You have heard all offered testimony, evidence, and defenses. Are there any questions that you have for the accused that have not yet been asked?"

"No Chief." one said after they had all exchanged looks.

"And after hearing all testimony, evidence, and defense, are you ready to pass judgement and verdict?"

Slowly, each of the panel of twelve judges nodded in response. Starting with the viking that was closest to Hiccup's right, each one answered, "guilty."

Borg's face grew stony after the unanimous guilty verdict. Slowly, mechanically, Hiccup sat down again in his seat. For half a second his hands curled into fists, his nails digging into the wood. Then he felt Toothless nudge his foot.

Being chief really, really, _really_ sucked sometimes. Hiccup let out a breath of pent up tension and let his hands relax.

"I'm ready to pass sentencing." Hiccup announced to the assembly. He looked straight at Borg. In that moment, Hiccup was left without even a shadow of a doubt to hide behind. "Borg, son of Niels, you have been found guilty by a jury of your clansmen of treason and conspiring to aid the enemies of Berk."

There was a roar through the crowd. Hiccup held his hand up for silence again. The noise quieted. Hiccup felt his stomach roll. It wasn't the same light feeling that he got sometimes when Toothless hit an updraft and they were suddenly forced higher into the air. He wanted to be sick. He bit it back. "As punishment for the crime, I sentence you to be cast out to sea from a ship twenty miles from Berk. May the gods of the sea, Ægir and Rán, have mercy on you."

Borg didn't say anything. It wasn't the viking way. He was dragged away by the two guards in his chains. Even if he did say something, it would've been drowned out cheering of the crowd around him. As everyone filed out of the mead hall to go about their day, Hiccup's shoulders sagged in exhaustion. His hand fell off the side of the arm rest. "Well done," Gobber said, clapping him on the shoulder and making him jump in surprise.

Hiccup rubbed his face. "Why do I feel so, so _wrong_?" he asked Gobber as he slumped forward in his seat.

"Yer dad used to feel the same way after trials like this. It shouldn't be easy, handing down a sentence that is most certainly certain death. And if it ever becomes easy, well then, you've got a bit of a problem on your hands." There wasn't a hint of lightness in Gobber's voice. It held all sobriety of a man who'd seen several such proceedings.

"Did I even do the right thing?" Hiccup shook his head, feeling completely lost once more in his role as chief. Why hadn't he paid more attention when his dad was around?

"If you'd let him off any easier, he'd run right to the Berserkers to spill our secrets." sighed Gobber.

"I just wish there'd been another way." he murmured. Gobber clapped him on the back again.

"Come on, let's get some grog at the forge." he offered.

Hiccup clutched his forehead, wrapping his hands through his bangs, and shook his head. "Nah, I think...I think I just want to be alone for a little while."

"Suit yourself." shrugged Gobber. "Yer dad was the same way after his first trial like this. He'd never admit it, but he was just as uncertain as you are now."

"Really?"

"Really." Gobber assured him. "You're more like him than you realize."

With one final pat on the shoulder, Gobber hobbled down the stairs and towards the door. Hiccup was left with his much desired alone-ness.

Toothless chirped and forced his head up under Hiccup's own listless hand. Hiccup looked over at him. Toothless blinked, his pupils wide now that seriousness was over. When Hiccup didn't respond right away, Toothless bumped his hand again more firmly and made a deep, soothing growl in the back of his throat. _Are you going to be okay?_

"Yeah, I'll be okay bud. I think…" Hiccup mumbled unconvincingly.

Toothless raised his tail, showing off his vibrant red prosthetic, and fluttered his wings suggestively. His backend wiggled in anticipation. For the first time since the trial had started, Hiccup cracked a tiny smile. "Yeah, let's go bud." he nodded.

Toothless flashed one of his toothless 'smiles' and bounded towards the mead hall doors. Of course as he ran, he ran into several tables and benches which in turn sent things flying everywhere. Hiccup couldn't stop the laugh bubbling to his mouth. "Watch it!" he cried as he raced after Toothless.

They cleared the doors, and Hiccup was on Toothless's back in seconds. The sky rushed to meet them moments later and laughing, oblivious children smiled and waved to him as he took off. Hiccup started to remember that being chief didn't always suck.

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**A/N:** I'm not sure if this is where this story ends. I have another part in mind where Hiccup actually has to mentally come to grips with his actions.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **So this is part two of this short story. This is definitely more drabbly and fluffy than the first part. I'm not as fond of this part as I was of the first part. The idea behind this was to show Hiccup coming to terms with the sentence he passed down in the first part. I think I missed the mark a bit. Oh well, at least there's some Hiccstrid to enjoy.

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Hiccup missed the quiet moments in his life. They were so far and few in between anymore that he found himself revelling in them when they did come. Sure Hiccup always had fifteen minutes here and there during the day in between his new duties as chief but real time, an hour or two, was so rare nowadays that he and Toothless would disappear to their cove the first instant they could slip away. They were never gone very long. A chief, afterall, couldn't just up and vanish for any length of times without causing a full blown panic.

He'd made the mistake of taking Toothless for an extended flight one morning and he'd come back to find the village establishing a full blown search party. Nope! He was never doing that again. Now when Hiccup and Toothless went on their routine morning flight, they were never gone more than forty-five minutes. There were times when not even their morning flights didn't even feel like their own any more. They were no longer the private and therapeutic affairs they'd once been. Sometimes, they'd rush through the flight just so Hiccup would have more time to do some important task that couldn't be delegated. Then there were the times that Hiccup and Toothless couldn't avoid some viking following after them just to get a word in the ear of their chief.

Hiccup wore the dark circles under his eyes as best he could. He was starting to see why his father had been so, well, grumpy at times. Not even Hiccup's brightest smile could mask his exhaustion some days. On the especially trying days, Hiccup and Toothless would find any possible way to get to their cove.

The cove. Gods be praised for it. It had been a sanctuary for Hiccup and Toothless ever since they'd both stumbled into it that fateful day five years ago when Hiccup was only fifteen and the seemingly useless fishbone of a viking claiming to be Stoick the Vast's son. How they'd managed to keep it a secret from the rest of the village was beyond him, but secret it remained. Thus it made the perfect place to hide from the village after the trial. No one would find him at the cove. No one knew where it was...except one person.

"Whoa!" cried Astrid in a very untypical Astrid way. There was a very untypical Astrid crash and clang as the metal details on her skirt hit the ground. Hiccup bit back a smile as he turned to look over his shoulder.

"Careful, that shield's come loose." he told her, completely late with delivering the information.

Astrid picked herself up from the ground, throwing her braid back over her shoulder with an exasperated huff. "You know we should just take that stupid thing out. It's getting to be a death trap. One day I'm going to try and vault over it and it's going to fall out completely." she growled as she sent shield a venomous look as though it were the one at fault for being used as a vaulting platform and consequently wriggling loose of the hold it had been stuck in for five years.

"I'll get right on that milady." Hiccup told her, flashing her a grin.

"I mean it Hiccup." she pointed her finger at him threateningly.

Hiccup laughed. "Alright, alright I gotcha. I gotcha. Toothless and I will work on getting it out. Won't we bud?"

Toothless growled a bit in agitation. He was busy glaring at Hiccup for his lack of concentration. Hiccup laughed again as he shook his head and continued to twist his knife around in the ground. The polished metal caught the sunlight and reflected it back on to the ground, giving Toothless a mythical light to chase around the cove. Suddenly there was a splash as Stormfly dove straight from the sky and into the pool. Hiccup moved to cover himself with his arms but poor Toothless was drenched from snout to tailfin. He turned around and gave Stormfly an evil glare.

The light on the ground was forgotten as Toothless bounded into the pool to remind Stormfly, in the most playful manner possible, who was Alpha dragon. "Well now that the kids are occupied." Hiccup said as he shook the water from his arms.

Astrid laughed and sat down next to him. She brushed his wet hair from his forehead and planted a kiss on it. "Your mom is worried about you." she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Hiccup shrugged noncommittally. Astrid continued, "She wanted to come look for you but I told her that you needed at least three hours to yourself to regroup."

"And yet here you are after only two." a dry smirk split Hiccup's face.

"Hey, I'm not used to sharing you with another woman, even if that woman happens to be your mother. So what if I wanted you all to myself for a little while?" Astrid teased him. Hiccup felt her arms tense around his shoulders. His face grew blank. He knew what was coming next. Gods, he really didn't want to think about it. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there Hiccup." Astrid told him somberly.

Hiccup wrapped his hand around her forearm gently, "Don't be sorry. Someone had to keep the kids from sneaking into court today. You're head of the academy now. You were the person for the job."

His voice was distant. It didn't sound like his own.

"Still, I wanted to be there. I knew how important today was for you." When Hiccup didn't respond, Astrid cleared her throat and said, "Gobber said you did really well. Your dad would've done the same thing in your place."

"He didn't even say anything." murmured Hiccup.

"Huh?" Astrid turned her head to the side and gave him a confused look.

Hiccup bit his lip. His head dropped. "Borg, he didn't even defend himself. He didn't say that he was trying feed his family. He didn't say that he was trying to get ahead in society. He didn't even blame me and say that he doubted my leadership. I caught him in his lie, called him out, and he just...he just stood there. Staring at me. Nothing. Not a single word. Why didn't he try to defend himself? Why did he just give up?"

"If he _had_ defended himself, Hiccup, would it have changed anything?" Astrid asked him earnestly.

Hiccup stared at the pattern on a blade of grass. "Maybe...I might've…" he fumbled for words as he attempted to make sense of it all. Finally he sighed, "No. Probably not. I just...I think I just wanted to understand. To know why he was willing to sell his people out for ten measly silver coins. Why he _was_ going to sell us out for ten measly silver coins."

"Hiccup, this isn't like dragon training where if you watch something long enough, you're going to make sense out of. Sure. Sometimes you will maybe. But not all the time. Sometimes, people do things that you nor I could ever understand. Not even with all your powers and abilities as Chief. You know this."

"I know, I know." grumbled Hiccup as he ran his hand up and down Astrid's arm. He let it rest on her wrist and leaned back into her chest. "I just really hated it. Looking into that man's eyes and knowing that he was guilty but not knowing why he was going to do it. Sell us out, sell Berk out. Throw all our hard work into the sea like it was nothing. Waste all the rebuilding and the progress we made."

He groaned in frustration. Hiccup shook his head, unable to get his jumbled thoughts to line up into any sensical order. Astrid squeezed him from behind. Thankfully, he didn't need to be eloquent for her to understand what he meant or wanted to say. He never had.

Hiccup released a breath that he'd been holding. "It isn't going to get any easier either." he said quietly.

"No, it isn't." Astrid told him unflinchingly. He felt her shake her head as she spoke, her bangs tickling the back of his neck. It softened her brutal honesty that he'd come to love so much. "There's always going to be hard decisions you have to make, but they'll come less and less frequently eventually."

"Odin, I hope so." swore Hiccup under his breath.

"Everyone's still trying to figure out what sort of chief you are. What kind of leader you'll be." Astrid told him. "Today you showed them that you _could_ make the hard decisions to protect Berk."

Hiccup turned to look at her with an upraised eyebrow. "Yes, because everyone wants to see their chief hand down a probable death sentence to another." he said sarcastically.

"No, they want to see their chief put the good of the tribe above all else. You did that today. The people respect you for it Hiccup. They still remember the fifteen year old kid that stunned everyone by trying to train a Monstrous Nightmare in the kill ring instead of actually trying to kill it." Astrid told him.

"Great! So everyone still remembers me as the screw up." Hiccup muttered darkly. His comment was met by a sharp punch on the shoulder. Hiccup winced and rubbed his arm.

"No! They remember who you are as a person and they realize just how hard it was for you to make the call to punish Borg the way you did. It wasn't an easy call for the boy who wouldn't kill a dragon. They respect you for it." insisted Astrid. "That respect will lead to loyalty and the more loyal your people, the less likely they will be to betray you and the rest of Berk."

Hiccup glanced at her. Astrid's face was set in it's firm, assured, confident way. He sighed, "I might not have to deal with treason but there are other things just as difficult out there that I'll have to deal with one day."

"And you'll cross that bridge when you get there. Not a moment sooner." she smiled reassuringly, "And you won't ever have to do it alone. Remember that."

He smiled in return. Then he sobered again. "Astrid, this chief thing isn't easy. I knew that way before Dad died. I was scared of the responsibility, of the fact that I hold our tribe's survival in the palm of my hand, and that one small mistake could mean all of our deaths. I'm still scared of this responsibility. I'm so afraid of making the wrong choices."

"Hiccup…" she started to pull away from him to reassure him but Hiccup held his hand up.

"Not finished," he told her quickly before continuing on, "You can't say that I will always make the right decisions because I can't and I won't. It just isn't possible. I always thought that when Dad was finally able to pin me down as Chief, he'd still be here for me to go to for advice but he isn't. Sometimes that thought alone completely paralyzes me. What I do know is that I am glad as Niflheim that you, and Toothless, and Gobber, and Mom are around to help because I couldn't do it without you."

"Well, hey! That's what I'm here for right? To pull you out when you get yourself into trouble." Astrid was blushing in a very untypical Astrid way as she said it.

"Trust me, that thought is very reassuring. Knowing that you and everyone else has my back when I do slip up and make a mistake."

Hiccup paused. He found himself back once more in the mead hall, standing in front of Borg with the chief's seat behind him. Hiccup was looking in Borg's eyes once again and seeing the shaken confidence of a man who knew his lie was rapidly unraveling. He remembered the sinking, sick feeling he had when known, then and there, that the appointed jury was going to find Borg guilty of treason. The utter nauseousness of what Hiccup knew had to come next. "Dad used to call me the 'Pride of Berk," Hiccup said somberly, "I don't feel much like it now, but it's definitely something that I try to be everyday when I walk out of the house because I owe that to the people. Maybe, just maybe, if I can be the 'Pride of Berk,' maybe I can be half the chief my dad was."

Astrid kissed him on his cheek. "Keep thinking like that and you'll be twice the chief he was."

"Nah," shrugged Hiccup with a light smile on his lips, "Pretty certain that's impossible."

He and Astrid laughed a little before falling into companionable silence. The quiet was beautiful. Quiet moments were so few and far in between anymore that Hiccup truly savored them. Sitting in the cove with Astrid and the dragons, it was as perfect as his life could get at the moment. No one was hounding him about this policy or that concern. He wished sometimes that the quiet moments wouldn't end. That was when Hiccup realized that it was in fact too quiet.

"Um...where are our dragons?" Hiccup asked as he looked around the cove.

"What do you mean?" Astrid asked. The two twisted about. The water was clear of any dragons and the banks around it were also dragon free.

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other, "Uh-oh!"

As if on cue, there was a cry from above. The pair looked up at the sky. Hiccup moved to cover Astrid from the falling water that Stormfly had dropped from above. He didn't get a chance. Toothless leapt from the bottom of the pond, flinging water everywhere, and collided straight into him. "Stormfly!" yelped Astrid at the same time that Hiccup yelled, "Toothless!"

"Aw c'mon! Seriously!" groaned Hiccup as he pushed Toothless of himself.

"Bad girl Stormfly!" Astrid cried, pointing her finger in the air threateningly. Stormfly gave a call that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and flew higher into the air to avoid her.

Hiccup glared at Toothless. Toothless gave him his trademark toothless grin. _You were getting too serious. We had to do something!_ Toothless gurgled.

Hiccup shoved Toothless's head. "Thanks for nothing you useless reptile."

Astrid's laugh cut through the cove. Hiccup looked over at her. She was on the ground, pinned under Stormfly who was currently licking her up and down on the face.

Quiet moments were amazing but sometimes the best moments weren't very quiet. Hiccup turned to helped Astrid with Stormfly but Toothless put an end to that rather quickly by pinning Hiccup under his body.


End file.
